Algebra of sphero-cylinders and refractive errors, and their means, variance, and standard deviation.

Abstract

Sphero-cylinders and refractive errors can be represented by matrices. Matrix algebra provides methods whereby sphero-cylinders can be added, subtracted, multiplied, inverted, and raised to powers and can have roots extracted. These operations are defined for sphero-cylinders and examples are given. In terms of these operations a number of means of refractive errors are defined: the arithmetic, harmonic, and quadratic means. Furthermore it is possible to define a variance and standard deviation for refractive errors. These quantities should provide a basis for a formal approach to the statistical analysis of populations of refractive errors.